The conflict in context, 1998-2014 context
| Autor | Andrés Dávila, Miguel Gomis y Gustavo Salazar |
| Cargo del Autor | Political scientist, Social Science Master's Degree and PhD, associate professor and Director of the Political Science Department at the Faculty of Political Sciences and International Relations at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana/Internationalist, Master's Degree in International Relations, Specialized in Finance and Strategy and Master's ... |
| Páginas | 465-591 |
CHAPTER 2
THE CONFLICT IN THE 1998-2014 CONTEXT
Andrés D ávila1, Miguel Gomis2 y Gustavo Salazar3
INTRODUCTION
e purpose of this chapter is to establish, based on the international and national environment that in-
volves the group of agents, the evolution experienced by the Colombian society on its permanent relation
to the national armed conict experienced since the mid-70s, in the XX Century. e aim is to establish
how and why the Colombian State, through the security and defense sector and, in particular, the Air For-
ce as part of the law enforcement agencies, has developed an institutional, strategic, operational, tactical
and technical capacity in response to the threats it had to face, and which are still in force: what has been
the relation in this period among the State (and within the State, particularly the Law Enforcement agen-
cies, with emphasis on the Colombian Air Force), the civil society and the organized armed groups, and
their respective interactions; that is, the international, geopolitical, geoeconomic, geostrategic, political,
institutional, economic, social, geographic, environmental and cultural context, and the dynamic relation
therewith. e above, with emphasis on the 1998-2014 period, which is justied below.
From a perspective that emphasizes the systemic nature of the conict analyzed, and which denes
it as a Complex Conict System of a Permanent Nature4 that, as noticed hereinaer, matches the description
of the current situation in Colombia in the period in question, the aim is to prove how at a national level, and
in ve regions selected5, contexts are evidenced, which indicate how, when and why the Law Enforcement
agencies and, particularly the Colombian Air Force act to facilitate the growing military dominance and to
strengthen the State presence, and the validity of its institutional approach and sovereignty. e above takes
place while the conict variables are controlled and while conditions are generated for the negotiation with
some of the illegal organized armed groups that agree to participate in such a process to end the mentioned
conict. A process that is particularly signicant in the period in question.
1 Political scientist, Social Science Master’s Degree and PhD, associate professor and Director of the Political Science Depart-
ment at the Faculty of Political Sciences and International Relations at Ponticia Universidad Javeriana.
2 Internationalist, Master’s Degree in International Relations, Specialized in Finance and Strategy and Master’s Degree in Gov-
ernment and Public Administration, instruction professor of the Department of International Relations of the Faculty of Political
Sciences and International Relations of Ponticia Universidad Javeriana.
3 Attorney-at-law, Master’s Degree in Political Science and History, instruction professor of the Political Science Department
at the Faculty of Political Sciences and International Relations at Ponticia Universidad Javeriana.
4 For this and another terms, refer to chapter 1.
5 South of Bolívar and northeastern Antoquia were analized as a single unit. Refer to chapter 5.
466 The conlict in context
Based on that set out herein, it is possible to further understand why and how the Colombian Law
Enforcement agencies and, as a part thereof, the Military Forces, particularly the Colombian Air Force,
developed the policies, strategies, plans, programs and operations that allowed the Colombian State to
revert a deteriorating and serious situation that threatened the accomplishment of its core functions to
ensure the actual term of the democratic system and the fundamental human rights. is, as a consequen-
ce of the challenge to the territorial control, the allocation of resources, the violence exercise and the inci-
dence on communities, among others, by the organized armed groups (guerrillas and illegal self-defense
groups) in an extent and dimension that is currently unknown; a situation that became apparent during
the 90s, and yet stronger between 1996 and 1998.
e worsening of “hostilities”6, but specially the massive nature of violence modalities7 that led
to serious breaches of human rights and violation to the international humanitarian law led the country
to a situation classied as an unprecedented humanitarian crisis - an unequivocal indicator of its decom-
position8. However, and at the same time as the extended coverage of power of organized armed groups,
the Colombian State implemented and developed a sound institutional strengthening strategy, which is
not exempted from diculties and, in some cases, misleading, which allowed reverting a situation that
relatively challenges the military and armed superiority9. In furtherance of this task, the Colombian Air
Force became the cornerstone and guarantee of the gradual consolidation of the successive progress for
the achievement of a legitimate monopoly pertaining to the use of force, particularly by developing an ae-
rial superiority condition that could not be contested by illegal organized armed groups and, particularly,
the FARC-EP.
e purpose established, which is ample, complex and demanding, has been addressed with a
double academic approach strategy, developed in the prior chapter, which sets out the conceptual and
methodological proposal that guides this approach. It is worth mentioning that the theoretical and
methodological approach proposed has been applied dierently herein vis-à-vis that draed in the re-
gional reports. e academic team has worked with clarity and conviction with respect to the approach
selected, as it allows for a comprehensive, diverse, complex glance, which is still aware that the application
of the dierent levels implies a rst approach that must be considered. Hence, it is possible to observe a
dierent treatment on that included herein, with respect to that where work is being done, and the way
how the approach to regional cases will be arranged.
Based on that set out therein, and for the purposes at hand, this chapter develops, aer this in-
troduction, a rst approach to the international context that frames the events, and develops further the
Colombian case. As a second approach, a general characterization of the Colombian situation at the end
of the XX Century and in the early XXI is issued, which suggests general interpretation hypotheses that
serve as benchmark for the characterization of the periods indicated, and the critical junctures selected.
6 is concept is not dened in the positive law. It conveys, as indicated by Pietro Verri and as a consequence of the use thereof,
“the acts of violence exercised by a belligerent against an adversary in order to defeat its resistance and to force it to pursue its
own will. As an example, it is possible to quote the following expressions: hostility direction, hostile acts, persons involved or
not involved in hostile actions, eects of hostilities, hostility suspension, end of hostilities” (cf. H III; H IV R arts. 22-41; H VI;
G I-IV art. 3 common; G I art. 17; G III arts. 67,118, 119; G IV arts. 44, 49, 130, 133-135; GP I arts. 33, 41, 45, 47, 59, 60). See
Vetri, 1998. e term is widely used when coding the Customary International Humanitarian Law norms, which was made by
the International Committee of the Red Cross, see Henckaerts & Doswald, 2008.
7 e renowned researcher Charles Tilly uses this term in his book e Politics of Collective Violence. Refer to Tilly, 2007.
Likewise, the term “violence modalities” is part of the heading of Chapter I of the Report Basta Ya of the Centro Nacional de
Memoria Histórica and its meaning includes conducts, such as homicide and assassination, forced disappearance and hostage
taking (kidnapping), forced displacement, etc. Refer to Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica, 2013.
8 e decomposition factor was linked to the fact that, in the absence of a signicant armed confrontation dynamic, the main
parties aected by the strategies, actions and operations were, increasingly, dierent sectors of civil population. From that period,
refer to Echandía, 2001.
9 At that time, authors like Eduardo Pizarro Leongómez and Alfredo Rangel stated - following the case of El Salvador - the
existence of a “negative military tie” and even a switch from the “War of Movements” to the “War of Positions”. From the perspec-
tive herein developed, such characterizations are rather excessive. In relative terms, the second ve-year term of the 90s in the
XX century took place at the same time as the increased capacity of insurgent Organized Armed Groups to accrue armed forces,
causing important defeats to the Army and the Police, but this is very far from the above-mentioned denitions. Refer to Dávila,
2001, p. 157-162.
The conlict in context 467
e third approach sets out the background that allows for a better understanding of the period under
study, and includes a review of the appearance of illegal organized armed groups10. A fourth approach
includes a short explanation of the proposed periodization, and how useful it is to dene and establish
the critical junctures to be analyzed at a national level. Fihly, a characterization of each of the critical
junctures suggested is presented, which allows setting an ample and comprehensive context where the
national armed conict takes place, and the security and defense management for the containment and
nal solution thereof, which was suggested in the recent period as of the development of peace talks or
attempts, such as those made with the guerrilla groups, who have been the main characters of a signicant
part of the violence suered in the last two decades.
INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT OF THE COLOMBIAN NON-INTERNATIONAL
CONFLICT IN THE 1998-2014 PERIOD
Several international phenomena have played a role in the Latin American and the Colombian agenda.
Beyond the clear and evident relation between internal contexts and the US foreign policy, there is an
extensive mix of elements that have impacted and that still impact the Colombian conict, as well as
the solution thereof11. is text does not depict all the international events that have directly or indi-
rectly aected the peace process. However, it does suggest variables and large streams that allow for
their classication.
e main question to be asked is, what are the international factors that had an impact on the
political process and the national conict experienced in Colombia in the above-mentioned period? At
this level, which of them have contributed to the conict continuance, and which of them contribute to
the end thereof? It is not just about the synthetic analysis of the international context with respect to the
events experienced so far. It is also important to expand the reection to the post-agreement. What inter-
national factors could inuence the enforcement of the agreements, if they are ever realized? e key is
to try to determine, from the international standpoint: a) what has contributed to the continued conict
in Colombia, when most of the guerrillas immersed in Latin American national armed conicts ended
in the 90s and b) what has favored the trend towards peacekeeping (under the terms of Diehl, Druckman
and Wall)12.
eoretical-conceptual Perspective
Prior to oering response guidelines, a conceptual view that frames reection is suggested. International
relations (IR) as academic discipline are based on the diverse theoretical views; however, approaches have
contributed to perpetuating a certain eurocentrism when identifying issues13. Within this framework,
theoretical comparisons are normally used, which are non-operational at present (such as the power or
hegemony concepts). erefore, the proposal of Bertrand Badie14 is particularly accurate: once the eec-
tive unipolar order nonexistence was discussed15, it is possible to analyze the thesis according to which we
10 According to the approach selected, similar background should be developed for the Colombian Law Enforcement agen-
cies. However, in accordance with the purpose of the task carried out: context construction for institutional memoir, but without
getting involved in it, and neither in the operational memoir, a reference is nally the preference, without delving into, or crossing
the theme limits related to these memoir environments.
11 Moreno León, 2002.
12 Diehl, Druckman, & James, 1998.
13 Acharya, 2014.
14 Badie, 2013, p. 281.
15 Merlini, 2003.
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